


The Art of War

by weazelbeater



Series: Love and War [8]
Category: Kill la Kill
Genre: Alien Biology, Assassination, Attempt at Humor, Attempted Murder, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Crying, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fate, Fear, Graphic Description, Gun Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Home Invasion, Implied Sexual Content, Inspired by Music, Laughter, Medical Conditions, Medical Trauma, Multi, Murder, Music, Psychological Trauma, Revenge, Shock, Sibling Love, Soldiers, Tears, Temporary Character Death, Weapons, hardmode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:39:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weazelbeater/pseuds/weazelbeater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ghosts of the past lead to ghosts of the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of War

 

 _‘Death be not proud’_ \- poet John Donne

 

-

 

“Caviar is gross. That’s all I know.”

“It’s an acquired taste, I will admit.”

“No, it’s an overly salty, disgusting taste! I’ve spit out salty stuff in the past that tasted better than _that_ crap!”

“Such as?”

“What-um…n-never _mind_? I just mean that I don’t _get_ all that fancy stuff. Caviar is like the sign you’re way too rich and don’t know what decent food even _is,_ anymore! Gimme a good, rare Kobe beef burger any day over  that junk! Blech!”

Satsuki shrugged. There was no point in arguing over such things…Ryuko was simply not going to ever understand the more delicate points of a refined, cultured life. Ryuko’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel as she quietly sang to herself “ _Don’t lose your waaaaayyyyyy_! Man, that song is awesome! Oi…hey, Sats! You know what I need to do? I need to hit up Inumuta and get his-“

A pointed glare met her in that thought’s path, and it took but a moment for her to wisely change its direction. “…ah…his, y’know…opinion! Ah, of Nonon’s show. I think he liked it. Do you think he liked it? I think he did. Yep. I’ll bet he did…* _cough_ *…yessir, he had a good time.”

Still humming the infectious melody to herself, Ryuko then reached over to the car’s dashboard and pulled up the onboard GPS. She pressed the ‘ _Go Home_ ’ button, and an illuminated dotted line appeared on the area map, indicating the best route to take from their current location. Satsuki’s eyebrow raised a bit at this, as she certainly knew exactly where she was, and was fairly sure Ryuko knew the local roads well enough, too.

Satsuki posed a gentle query to the car’s humming driver. “Ah, I hate to ask, but why are you relying on that? Do you really need it to navigate back to the mansion? Because I was thinking that you should know this area well enough from your frequent bike journeys, yes?”

Ryuko’s upper teeth bit into her lower lip, impishness swelling in waves under her attempted straight face. “Why I’m glad you asked me that question, Satsuki. You see, I’m using the GPS on our drive home this evening…so you _don’t lose your wayyyyyyy_!” she sang out loudly, eliciting a massive eye roll and subsequent face palm from her aghast passenger. “Oh, for the love of… _really_ , Matoi?”

The impromptu serenade continued, and the captive Kiryuin couldn’t do a single thing about it. “ _We have to beEEEEEee as one! Don't be afraAAAAaid my sweetheaAAart! This is the wayyyy to get us hooOOOOome_!” Ryuko then broke down into a mess of chortling and snorting as the lyrical punstorm took over her mind.

Sastuki sighed through her palm, which was still gratuitously plastered to her face. Head shaking slowly back and forth, she mumbled to herself as Ryuko continued to giggle, hunched like a mad woman over the steering wheel. “What did I ever do to deserve this? I’ve tried to be a thoughtful leader, a valiant purveyor of justice, and this is the thanks that I get? Life is, indeed, most cruel…”

“Aw, come on. Don’t get all pissy because _your_ theme song doesn’t have any lyrics? Because it’s nice too! Maybe not quite as cool as  mine, sure…but that’s because you’re not quite as cool as me!”

“Keep digging that pit, Ryuko…you just might end up living in it.”

”Aw. You are just plain jealous, that’s all.”

“... _hmph_.”

Ryuko knew what that particular, abrupt ‘ _hmph_ ’ meant. She was getting to be quite attuned to Satsuki’s micro-expressions as of late. It meant that something quite serious was bothering the Kiryuin woman, deep down beyond even the current subject’s reach.

“Hey Sats? You aren’t, like, _really_ jealous, are ya?”

“What, of the music? Don’t be absurd. While your song has an obviously infectious pop flair to it, mine will ultimately pass the test of time as a classic ode to perseverance and triumphant resolve! So no, I’m not jealous of that.”

“Eh...okay? But _is_ something bugging you, though? You’re getting that weird, stuffy expression again.”

“I...no, it’s nothing.”

“... _really_. Do tell?”

“I...I’m sorry. It’s difficult to talk about my innermost thoughts. You know this, as well as the why.”

“Yeah. Well, talk only if you want to. I ain’t gonna pry.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever actually heard you say that before. That’s the extent of your effort?”

“Yep. You don’t wanna talk, it ain’t the right time.”

“O-oh. I...I see. Well, then. I-it’s just that you’ve never been so willing to just...give up like that? You always badger me about it.”

“I ain’t givin’ up. Just giving you _space_ , that’s all. No worries.”

Satsuki sat there for a while, arms crossed while watching the far-off city lights twinkle past as they left the highway for the quiet, meandering road that led home. A tired sigh eventually pierced the silence, now that Ryuko had stopped her silly humming.

“I’m not jealous of your song. I may, however, be a bit…envious...of you and your attitude.”

“My attitude? What? Why? What the heck did I do now?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about the past.”

“You sure that’s a good idea, given our messed-up lives?”

“I have no choice, Ryuko-san. I acknowledge that I need to open up to you, and perhaps be more honest about events as they happened. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, as the saying goes. I can’t help but wonder how things might have turned out differently if I’d actually _been_ this superlative tactician I’ve been made out to be all this time? I chastise you sometimes for rushing in without thinking, such as when you stormed Honnōji alone against Ragyo and Nui in your rage-driven madness. But I’m no better, really. Not only did I terribly screw up my decade-long assassination attempt by greatly underestimating the true extent of her powers...I allowed myself to be captured as a prisoner of war! If my Devas were but a hair less disciplined, they might have rushed in to rescue me immediately and fallen into her clutches! They would have died horrid, tortuous deaths, either by Nui’s bloody hands or as a final sacrifice to Shinra-Kōketsu.”

“Hmm. A bit morbid, as always, nee-san. You can’t keep beating yourself up like this! You need to focus on the future, like you _said_ you’d do!”

“It is hard. I wish not to repeat my mistakes...and perhaps I am jealous of the carefree, cheerful way _you_ handle things, even after the awful life you had leading up to Honnōji! We have _both_ seen our share of abuse, neglect and terrible violence...yet here you are, smiling and chipper and silly and...I wish I could do that, too.”

“Me? I’m grateful for what I _do_ have, not weeping for what I don’t. I had a...well, you know. A bad childhood, right? I’m used to having nothing. No mother, no dad around to care for me, no friends...no respect, never got a break from anyone. Made me a stone-killer asshole, to be honest. But, since I first set foot in Honnōji, I’ve met my first actual friend, discovered a piece of my soul that I didn’t even think existed...and finally found a family member that actually _cares_ about me! Not to mention one that puts up with _my_ obnoxious ass!”

Ryuko’s smile faltered a bit at this, and Satsuki saw a glimmer of sadness under the laughing face. “But the truth is, I’m only this way because of you. I don’t always smile…in fact, it’s only been recently I’ve been able to make a habit of it at all. It makes _me_ happy to see  you happy, so I clown it up to maybe cheer you up a little, sort of help you be less distracted by what was and what could have been. I don’t think it’s fair, what you’ve been through. Or me, come to think of it. And to be honest, I guess I’m tired of being the same old rude and grumpy chick I’ve always been? I’m trying to be better than that, and maybe follow your example? I need to act better around you...around everyone, really. It’s like a…I dunno, a thing that your presence demands, I suppose. So I always try to find a reason to smile, in the hopes that it will make you do the same!”

Satsuki didn’t really have an answer for this. She had never suspected that there might be a cause and effect dynamic between them in this particular manner. Instead, she offered a small nod, followed by a quick squeeze of Ryuko’s knee. The smile came back full force, and Satsuki found herself allowing it to brighten her own dour mood.

“You’re silly. I’m not one to follow. You’d be just a bitter, surly shell, I think, if you do that too often.” Ryuko snorted, and muttered “Oh, please. _I_ know that  you know that you are way better than that. You have your shit together in ways that most people could only dream of, myself included. Hey, ya know what…maybe…?”

Ryuko’s voice trailed off, and Satsuki waited for a continuation, somewhat interested with the conversation’s direction. Finally she piped up, feeling that Ryuko needed a gentle but firm prodding, lest she somehow forget the point to all this. “Ah, you were saying? Matoi, are you all right?”

“Huh? OH! Sorry! I was having a revelation of sorts. So, I just imagined that you and me, we’ve got this yin-yang dynamic sort of thing going on. We both have the opposite traits the other person needs. Like, you’re all organized, responsible and super serious, and I’m all about not stressing the details and having fun times! So we just need to rub off on each other and we’ll both be better for it!”

“Is that another sex joke? I feel as though you are building up to one.”

“Ha, no…but there’s a good example! You woulda _never_ thought of that before you met me, right?”

“Ah…I…probably not. I just assumed that you would have twisted that comment into-“

“Yeah, right! See? That wasn’t where I was even going. _You_ came up with it…but it was your inner ‘Matoi’ that really made that happen! Like I have an inner ‘Satsuki’ that tells me to sit up straight when I’m eating in public, you know? That sort of thing!”

”I see. Well, as to the yin-yang idea, I have certainly considered that parallel for quite some time. I just never expected any sort of…cross-pollination to actually occur between us.”

“Hmm. Flower sex? Nice one there, Sats!”

“I…what? I wasn’t going _there_ at all!”

“Come on, it’s me. Go ahead and tell me I’d let that opportunity pass on by.”

“I suppose not. You and your odd sense of humor.”

“You’d have one too, if you just loosened up a little.”

“Oh, of course! ‘Loosen up’. Just like that. You know, I’d figured that we were both too willful and independent to allow either of us to change the other in that manner.”

“Oh, you mean _stubborn_? Yep, we have that going in abundance, absolutely! But we have already influenced each other, right? I mean, come on. I’ve seen you throw some jokes around on occasion, when no one is around to witness it. You sure do zip it when any of the Devas are within earshot though, like you still owe them the ‘fearless leader’ front or whatever. I understand. Habits are hard to break, I guess?”

“I presume this is something you have pondered for a while, correct? That I am forever molded into this ‘no-fun-allowed Satsuki’ persona, as you once called me? Perhaps I don’t know how to _be_ any other person, Matoi. Perhaps it is impossible to be recast into another form, given what I am made of...”

“Okay Satsuki, look. I’m sorry if I ever said that, all right? Once I get going, my mouth has a mind of its own, I will admit. You just need to care less about what others think of you…you seem to have this weird fear of being seen as less than one hundred percent perfect, and I think it keeps you from taking little risks in your everyday personal life. Like making a joke, fer example? You are pretty much the smartest person I have ever known. I doubt you would have a hard time making witty observations if you allowed yourself to just…ya know...take a chance and maybe be as imperfect as the rest of us? This is why everyone’s always on eggshells around you. I mean, it _is_ true that they respect you tremendously, but man…you sure can suck all the oxygen out of a room! Everyone is always so afraid to laugh around you, _still_ …after everything we‘ve been through together? Time to lighten up and have a little bit of fun, that’s what Doctor Matoi is prescribing for ya today! ”

“Oh, _Doctor_ Matoi, is it? When did you get promoted from Nurse Ryuko, hmm? Did you enroll in some magical yobikō when I wasn’t looking?”

“Oh yeahhhh, sort of? I took a personality test online, and it sent me an official certificate for becoming ‘ _Doctor Love, Phd._ ’! That’s from an accredited joint, I’ll have you know…and all I had to do was just fill out my credit card number to pay for the plaque’s shipping! Neat, huh?”

“M-Matoi? Ah, _please_ tell me you  didn’t use the…company card for this venture?”

“Aw hell, no sweat. I had to use a _few_ of them to get it to accept the deal, but it’s all set now! It kept on saying ‘invalid card information’ or whatever, but I finally got one to go through. So it’s cool.”

‘ _By all that is holy,_ _Inumuta will vaporize her on the spot for this breach of security, regardless of insurance!_’ Satsuki grimly thought to herself. She tried to calm herself and organize her scattered thoughts in preparation for a most delicate verbal crucifixion. But when she finally turned to face her idiot sibling and unleash tonight’s harsh lesson in online security, she was greeted by an unexpected barrage of laughter instead.

“Oh my God, your faaaace! You actually believe I’m _that_ dumb? Come on, Lady Kiryuin, give me  some credit here! I ain’t frickin’ Sanageyama, for cryin’ out loud! Ugh, if I was gonna do _that_ , I’d at least charge it to Inumuta’s account…now that would be hilarious, to see him lose his shit over something like this! I’ll bet he’d wanna nuke me from orbit if I pulled _that_ kind of crap, right?” Ryuko descended into a giggling fit once again as Satsuki slowly released a tense, over-pressurized lungful of air. Her first instinct was to scold the girl anyways, as corporate security was no laughing matter to her. But, as Ryuko continued to emit infectious little snorts and chuckles, a strange thing happened.

Her solar plexus buckled a bit, and she was momentarily concerned that an abdominal cramp was somehow manifesting itself in a most inopportune manner. A small hitch, then a jerk wandered into her now-quickening breathing. Her frown slowly morphed into a slight grin, and a tiny voice inside her, barely perceptible, was heard just then to offer up a morsel of sage advice: it whispered to her ‘ _It’s okay, just…let go_.’

Laughter, warm and sonorous, clawed its way free of its decade-old shackles and erupted from Lady Kiryuin Satsuki’s throat. This was not the usual controlled, indifferent chuckle she normally used to acknowledge some mildly silly occurrence: this was a beautiful release of pressurized magma, uncontrollable and almost frightening in intensity.

Matoi Ryuko, suddenly believing she was soon to be known as the first and only witness to ‘ _The Day Satsuki’s Mind Went All Krakatoa and Disappeared’_ , hurried to pull the car over onto the road’s shoulder. The volume of the hilarious spectacle was magnified inside the car’s interior, and Ryuko winced at the sheer power of her mirth-inflicted sibling’s booming voice. She watched in awe as Satsuki cackled and whooped, hot tears cascading down onto the arms that were now wrapped around heaving, aching sides.

Ryuko smirked, mouth covered with a palm as she watched the elder Kiryuin shudder and quake. This blessed release went on for a few minutes, and by the time it petered out, Satsuki felt as though she had just performed one thousand stomach crunches (for the second time that day, as this was part of her normal morning routine).

She gasped and panted as loose strands of hair were brushed away from moisture-slicked cheeks. “Where did that come from? I…I don’t even _-cough-_ know what just…happened? It just…came out. I’m not sure what this even means, if I-I’m losing my _mind_ , or…I haven’t laughed like that since…since-“

“What, since you fooled me with that damned foreign newspaper, ya mean? Oi, I’m not too worried about it. In fact, I think I’m less worried _now_ about any sanity being lost than I was before. Besides, if you’re gonna be losin’ that beautiful mind of yours, _I’ll_ be the one to cause its downfall, thank you very much!”

“- _hah_ \- S-sorry about that, Ryuko. I sound quite loud in this cramped space, I know. I practiced for a long time to properly project my authority verbally, and I suppose my voice could be considered a weapon in its own right. But still…that was-”

“Fucking _awesome_ , that’s what that was! Looky here, we are on the road to recovery, the both of us! Now all I gotta do is figure out a way to be more serious and gloomy, and we can officially complete the yin-yang of our existence! Fuck yeah!”

”- _tsk_ \- So vulgar! Besides, _you_ be more responsible? I’d like to see you try!”

“I am being more responsible. I have a plan!”

“Huuoo? What does this ‘plan’ entail, I might ask?”

“Er-I’m maybe looking at some colleges. You know, for a degree in…somethin’. I dunno, not sure just yet. But I _am_ looking, I swear!”

”I believe you. For now, that is enough.”

“Yeah! Damn right. I’ll figure out something, Satsuki. I promise.”

“Very well, Ryuko. And…thank you. For everything, I mean. I know I’m not…easy to deal with, so please know that you have my sincerest thanks for bearing with me in my time of…awkward transition.”

“Aw…me, too. I’m pretty irritating, at times.”

“ _-gasp-_ You don’t say?”

“Hey, don’t push it. I can be worse, ya know.”

“I believe you, once again.”

The rush of road noise was barely perceptible in the cabin of their luxury sedan, but it was the only sound between them for an indeterminate amount of time. Each woman was lost in a rush of memories, some foul and some fair. The unexpected loudness of the voice that eventually broke this quiet lull startled them both out of their respective flashbacks.

“So. About tonight…something happened. I felt something. Something unusual.”

“Yeah? Like what? A good thing, I hope?”

“I believe so. I felt this content warmth, this…indescribable tranquility. It’s hard to describe, but I hope to feel it again, someday.”

“Yeah? That _is_ good. I know that feeling, I get it when I’m around Mako’s family. Being around your bestest friends will do that, ya know!”

“ _Our_ friends, you mean.”

“Er-I…yeah, I guess so. I suppose it feels right to say that. I guess Ira is cool with me, he calls me ‘Lady Ryuko’ this and ‘Lady Matoi’ that, and I can’t get him to stop it, either.”

“Nor will you, I suspect. He is steadfast and dedicated in his honor, once you have earned it. The others are your friends, as well. Surely by now you can admit this, Ryuko?”

“Well…I’m not sure Jakuzure is quite there…”

“Did she not gift you the very guitar that currently resides in this car’s trunk? Inside the guitar case that hasn’t had an _actual_ guitar in it for years?”

“Uh…yeah, she did. It was a reward for keeping up with my lessons.”

“Do you believe she does this sort of thing for all of her music students?”

“Um…I dunno. Does she?”

“Ah, I will tell you…she does not. Consider it a fulfillment of purpose. That guitar case now has the chance to serve the ideal of its _original_ intent, as do you.”

“Oh. Well then, that’s cool. Is that…cool? I hope that’s a _good_ thing and not a ‘lull you into a false sense of security before putting a knife between your ribs‘ kind of thing?”

“No, it is a good thing. It is a sign that she accepts you, to be worthy of such a gift. I assure you, she does not spend frivolously. Also, I did talk to Nonon after the concert. About us, I mean.”

“Um…oookaaaayyyy…? We - _ah-_ covered that whole ‘knife’ thing already, right?”

“ _*sigh*_ Relax. All is well. We have confronted our mutual history, and it is settled. You need not fear reprisals from her.”

“Yeah? Okay, that’s a relief, actually. Hmm…maybe this’ll give Sanageyama a shot at her, then.”

“Oh? Is this a thing, now?”

“Aw, he probably won’t admit it yet, but yeah. He needs to come around to the idea, I think. I’ve caught him talking about her in a ‘non-irritating’ manner on more than one occasion. Maybe I’ll nudge him in that direction, next time we spar.”

“He will have to wait until she is back in the country, I believe.”

“Oh, I think he will.”

“Hmm. Patience would certainly be a new trick for him.”

“Yeah, well ‘old dogs, new tricks’ or something like that. Plus, patience is a new trick for a lot of people.”

“Oh? Are you finally subscribing to this ‘patience’ idea?”

“ _*pfft*_ Oh, what _ever_. I’ll give you, like, ten entire minutes to get ready when we get home, Sats. Then…you’re  mine.”

“Ten minutes? What, to hide?”

“Can’t hide from me, you’ll just -“

“-orgasm tired, yes, I know.”

“Cool. Long as you know the drill.”

“Indeed I do.”

“ _*snort*_ Good. That’s ‘cause ‘The Drill’ is the name of a certain toy I brought home…”

“Well, I-wait, _what was that_?”

“Oh, look. We’re home!”

“ _*sigh*_ Yes, so we are…”

 

-

 

They pulled up to the lane leading to the massive metal gates, beyond which was the Kiryuin Estate. Tires popping and crunching across the vast expanse of gravel, their car slowly crept up to the main gate, waiting for the car’s transponder to be recognized by the security system. A green light flashed in the booth, and the black iron gates swung open ponderously to allow them further progress up the driveway.

Rolling swiftly past the sculpted topiary columns and marble pillars of the mansion’s front façade, Ryuko guided the car to a lurching halt in front of the garage doors, not even bothering to park inside. She hopped out of the sedan, impatiently urging Satsuki to hurry inside as she did. “Come _on_ , Kiryuin! Get the lead out! You owe me, and I’m all worked up tonight! Don’t _make_ me be naughty and give you a reason to chase me!”

“Hm, like I ever need to give you a reason. You, I suspect, are forever destined to be recalcitrant to your very bones, impetuous child.”

“Yeah? Well, you love me anyways. So there!”

“That I do, wayward one. That I do.” Satsuki took a moment to stretch, her sore back popping and crunching much like the driveway’s gravel.

Ryuko stood before the side door, located somewhere between the garage and the main entrance. She paused next to the door frame, making a dramatic show of bending over and smacking her butt repeatedly as she did. The smacks became harder as Satsuki slowly approached, her frame jiggling from the blows.

“It’s not _my_ fault I’m so bad. I just don’t have anyone to show me how to be good? You certainly aren’t up to it, that’s for sure!”

Satsuki, her eyes alight with disciplinary fire, drew up to her full height at the mock challenge. “You seek to tempt the full force of my ministrations? Matoi, you are _most_ foolish, indeed!”

Ryuko bit her lip, pouting and nodding in a ludicrous manner that would have won her precisely zero acting awards. “Aw, talk is _so_ cheap. You better find a way to shut me up…by _force_ , if necessary…if you’re even _up_ to the challenge of taming the sheer rebelliousness that is  me!”

“Get. In. The. Bedroom. _NOW_.” Satsuki growled, leering grin plastering itself across her lust-overridden face. Ryuko giggled, let out a surprised “ _Eeep!_ , then quickly unlocked the door, bolting inside to escape from the determined and now deliciously horny woman that followed.

Satsuki reached out to flip the main light switch just inside the entryway wall, to better illuminate the target of her desires. The switch clicked dutifully, but no helpful surge of photons rushed to greet her eyes. One impatient grunt later, she tried the switch up and down again, to no avail.

 _‘Power’s out? No, I see the security alarm’s light on the far wall. So…power is on. But for there to be no lights on at all? The odds are astronomical that they would all be blown…?’_ She mentally calculated the number of light fixtures in the immediate area, and came up with a preliminary guesstimate of no less than ten lightbulbs. Looking out across the entryway, she could pick out the faintest outline of the hall entrance’s frame across the room: light from down the hall barely illuminated the entrance’s shape, with a prancing Ryuko-shaped cutout vaguely visible in the middle.

“Hey, Satsuki? Lights sure are nice to have on, ya know. Ya mind?” the voice of her sibling lilted from somewhere to the front of her, to which she hissed “I flipped the switch, you twit! Something is…wrong- _RYUKO! **GET DOWN!**_ “

Satsuki, having been combat trained since she was old enough to hold a weapon, reacted instantly upon hearing the alien, metallic _-clink-_ in the middle of the room. Her ability to tactically assess a situation did not fail her now…but her pitifully slow human reaction time did. It was only due to her superior instincts, plus the incredible speed and strength of her fiber-enhanced sister, which prevented the flash grenade from permanently damaging either of their hearing.

Her senses took precious seconds to update her as to what exactly just happened. An unbelievably brilliant light had filled the world, along with a deafening *CRACK- ** _BOOM_** * that split their ears. Ryuko’s impulsive grab-toss of Satsuki saved them from being completely incapacitated, but there was still the matter of them flying through the air, as they were doing now.

The momentum of said throw brought them careening right across the hall, into the adjacent kitchen. Ryuko instinctively wrapped herself around Satsuki’s body in midair to protect her from injury, and it was _her_ back that now ended up breaking their collective backward progress into the kitchen…specifically the solid hickory wood of the kitchen’s center island.

The cacophony of pots and pans falling around them stirred them both from the briefest of stunned silences. They both scrambled to their feet, quickly crouching behind the kitchen island as they assessed their situation. Confused eyes met pained ones as they both tried to talk to each other, and lips were seen but not heard as the empty howl of tinnitus overwhelmed their eardrums for the time being.

Ryuko held her side, pain lancing up as her fractured ribs ground together. Satsuki squeezed her shoulder, then motioned down to the various pots and pans that were now scattered at their feet. Gear-shaped eyes widened, then narrowed as she scooped up a meat tenderizing mallet and a cast-iron frying pan. Forearms rippled with densely muscled cords as Ryuko readied her stance for the incoming action, then nodded. Satsuki, herself armed with a marble rolling pin, nodded back grimly as she assumed her favored jōdan-no-kamae stance with the makeshift weapon.

Flashlights appeared suddenly in the darkness of the room across from them, where they had been but six seconds prior. Bobbing and sweeping, they darted around the room quickly, obviously searching for their intended targets. Satsuki’s blood ran cold as one flashlight briefly illuminated the mounting point of another, and she recognized the business end of a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun. Her eyes darted over to Ryuko’s, who had immediately met her alarmed glare: she had glimpsed the weapon as well.

Satsuki grimaced woozily, shook her head, and then darted her index finger to one side of the door, motioning for Ryuko to assume a position opposite hers, now taken by herself. Ryuko materialized on the other side of the door, and they shared one more quick glance before the first two assailants barged into the room, intending to execute a quick sweep and clear of the kitchen.

At least, that was their plan. A marble rolling pin crashed down upon the weapon of the man on the right, smashing the action of the gun into fractured pieces as she then reversed the pin back up into his chin, dazing him. She then whirled around and swung the makeshift marble bat right into his face, and all the tactical training in the world couldn’t brace one for this kind of unexpected offense: the man crumpled, the blow crushing his faceplate, along with the bridge of his nose. Blood gushed forth from his ruptured features as the figure fell forward, unconscious.

The man on the left fared no better. Angered at the prospect of someone, _anyone_ attacking her in her own home, Ryuko whipped the cast-iron frying pan forward in a ballistic arc that would make any Major League baseball player quite jealous. The pan’s trajectory careened off the gun’s barrel, bright yellow sparks flowering up as the man’s armored chestplate absorbed the energy equivalent of a sixty kilometer-per-hour car crash in one frying pan’s convenient serving size. He impulsively reached out to grab the kitchen doorframe, gasping for breath as he swam in the murky waters of shock.

“…come… _my_ house, moth…ucker?” I’ll show…who’s boss, _asshole_! Welcome to  my fucking kitchen!” was the first coherent thing Satsuki’s hearing allowed her to hear, the tinnitus mercifully fading just enough to allow her to assess the immediate surroundings. She then heard a loud *BONG* as Ryuko smashed the mallet down onto his stunned, helmeted head. The mallet could not withstand such severe treatment, and its decapitated aluminum head flew off into the room’s darkness. Neither could the man’s helmet withstand such treatment either, as it barely allowed the skull within to survive the tremendous impact, albeit with immediate unconsciousness flavored heavily with a most severe concussion garnish. He pitched forward to become sleepy-time floor buddies with his erstwhile teammate, a veritable hardware store of military equipment clattering onto the floor next to him.

Ryuko tossed the mallet handle aside, cracking her neck as she renewed her grip on the frying pan. Satsuki crouched, then leaned into the hallway, daring to peek across and down the hall in a risky gambit to obtain much-needed tactical information. She spied two men advancing steadily down the hall towards their position on the right, and then identified two more men across the hall, coming in through the entryway with guns drawn.

She quickly switched sides, leaning in close to Ryuko as she barked short, concise orders to her partner in home defense. “Two on the right, two across the way, closing in fast. You take them, I’ll go right. _Do not kill them_ , regardless of the urge! This does _not_ need to be a bloodbath! Understood?”

The briefest flash of frustration gave way to stolid compliance. Ryuko twirled the pan in her fist as she steadied herself for sprinting. “I’ll do my best. But if they start shooting, all bets are off. Understood? On three?” Satsuki nodded sharply. The best defense was a good offense, but survival trumped all notions of mercy, given their currently lopsided odds. She kicked off her heels, then purposely tore her now-lacerated dress up the side to lessen the restriction on her motions. White knuckles protruded around cold marble as she prepared herself for the coming assault.

They matched eyes, and the legendary willpower of the two sisters flared to a brilliant ball of white-hot energy as Satsuki silently nodded off _‘one, two, three!’_ and burst forth towards their respective assigned targets.

 

-

 

“ _Relatório de status_! Tem o alvo foi localizada?” The terse phrase barked forth from radio communicators, meticulously fitted inside every team member’s helmet. Hollow silence was the only reply, which prompted the livid utterance of “Ah _merda_!” to be heard over the circuit, followed by the harsh clacking of a weapon’s action being readied.

No one was available right now to answer this urgent call. The few remaining conscious assault team members were occupied at that exact moment, as they were all somewhat mystified by the unusually heavy resistance of what was supposed to just be a couple of young Japanese girls. It was a glaring omission on the part of their intelligence gathering, of course…to not have the slightest inkling that they were unfortunately up against two girls who were arguably the most dangerous teenagers on the planet.

War cry bursting forth with immense volume, Kiryuin Satsuki bolted towards the two men in the hallway. As they hurried to raise their weapons in an attempt to draw a bead on the fast-approaching girl, she proceeded to slide back onto her knees at the last second, sailing through one man’s spread legs as she drove her marble weapon full-force into his crotch. She never wished to actually employ a ‘ _Marble Weapon Crotch Strike of Terrible Ruthlessness_ ’ (ひどい無慈悲の大理石の武器股ストライキ) upon another human being, but desperate times called for desperate tactics. The man distantly wondered as he fell to the floor, vomiting from overwhelmingly intense waves of pain, if he should have maybe worn a cup that day to protect his now-crushed testicles.

The other man spun around, in shock from the speed of her swift assault, and also keenly disturbed by his partner’s horrible noises of male-nightmare induced agony. His efforts to track his target were all for naught, as a marble rolling pin suddenly met the back of his knees with unbelievable force, spikes of terrific pain shooting through his now-ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments. Sadly, he would never walk properly again, due to the events of this evening…perhaps a wiser individual would have chosen to walk a more honorable path than the one he had decided for himself.

He hit the floor with a sickening _*thud*_ , and the last thing he remembered wondering was why a rolling pin of all things was mysteriously hovering over his face? After that, darkness took him on a trip straight to Blackout City (located in the Broken Orbital Bones Prefecture, nestled at the base of Mount Traumatic Concussion)…he was scheduled to stay there for quite some time.

Satsuki’s remorse level was perilously low on this particular evening. ‘ _Karma has its own way of meting out justice to the evil in this world, I am just the channeler…_ ’, she thought to herself as she quickly disarmed the two twitching figures, choked cries of agony falling pitifully short of her inner sanctum’s cold iron heart as she methodically stripped them of their guns and tossed them into a nearby closet.

She briefly examined their clothing for any distinguishing marks or clues to their identity. A round patch stood out on one man, and she narrowed her eyes as she tried to divine its origins. A sinister white and yellow skull atop a stylized pair of pistols and a dagger stared at her, and she mumbled to herself the phrase that was embroidered around the edge of the patch. “Batalhão de…Operações…Policiais Especiais? What the _hell_ is going on here…this language is…ah, is it…Spanish? No…Portuguese, I believe. This makes no sense? Who _are_ these people, paramilitary _soldiers_? Why on Earth are they-”

A crashing noise, followed by a loud cry snapped her out of her investigative mode, and she breathed in sharply as she immediately cast her attention to the entryway. “ _Ryuko_!” she shouted out as she sprinted to her sister’s aid, stinging worry now flooding her heart.

 

-

 

Matoi Ryuko, charging into the entryway with all the caution and tact of an enraged bull, fixated her attention on the nearest figure in the room. Bellowing with a sound that was half growl, half scream, she launched a ballistic backhand towards the surprised man’s weapon. Cast-iron frying pan once again clashed with German submachine gun as the force of the swing utterly obliterated the mechanical workings of the MP5. Pieces of metal and plastic exploded from the sheer force of the impact, spraying them both with the shrapnel of former gun bits.

Some skinny little girl had just shattered his gun, and now he struggled to draw his sidearm, his arm twisted up haphazardly amongst the remnants of the weapon’s sling and various metal and plastic bits that were now awkwardly wrapped around him. This minor distraction ended up becoming a major setback, as Ryuko now brought the pan back across this nervously flailing arm, breaking it in two places. He screamed in pain, panic setting in as his mind tried in vain to comprehend how this was happening, this little girl was hitting him with the force of a heavyweight boxer, no, a wrecking ball, no, a fucking _freight train?!_ The kinetic force of her blow propelled his body across the room, planting him firmly into the mansion’s wall and knocking him mercifully unconscious.

Eyes wide, his partner froze in mind-numbing shock. Witnessing the events, yet still not believing them, he raised his weapon to bring this terrible girl-demon down once and for all. He was quite fast, being a trained professional…but he was simply out of his league as the fiber-enhanced being known as Matoi Ryuko swiped at him using her weaponized kitchen cookware with breathtaking speed.

Grinning like a certain demented Honnōji Academy tennis player, she swung the pan with a two-handed backhand stroke that would certainly have crushed both his weapon and forearms, had he allowed them to remain poised out in front of him. Instead, he quickly pointed the weapon up, not wanting to repeat his partner’s mistakes. The blow instead just managed to amputate the MP5’s magazine, spraying the room with loose bullets, fragments of metal and a coiled spring. He froze just then, eyes bulging out comically as the perceived force behind the incredibly powerful swing materialized in his stunned mind.

He was suddenly reminded of his youth, of the night when he was young, dumb and full of way to many caipirinha cocktails as he accidentally stumbled into the busy Rio de Janeiro street. A speeding van had come within a millisecond or two of splattering his clumsy drunken ass, and he recalled the sudden, frightening feeling of an immensely huge and bulky object, the terrifying mass nearly obliterating him in that ominous moment. He felt that same feeling right now as he glanced at his incapacitated gun, wrists aching from the powerful twisting torque as Ryuko’s pan made contact.

Falling backwards, he blindly grabbed for his pistol, all the while screaming the hilariously high-pitched shriek of a little girl. Ryuko, flush with adrenaline, emitted a harsh, barking laugh as she witnessed the soldier’s trembling antics. She swung at him again, but the pan had exceeded its combat limits. The pan broke off at the handle, the main part careening off the wall and clanging onto the floor as she was left with a cast-iron stump in her adamantine grip.

The soldier, who had used this moment to clumsily skitter most of the way across the room, now drew his pistol and pointed it at her. Muzzle wobbling uncontrollably, he flicked off the safety with a harsh click as he then started to squeeze the trigger.

Ryuko, at a sudden disadvantage from across the room, reflexively squeezed the metal handle in her palm. Deciding that it wasn’t nearly large enough to mount an effective counter-strike, her eyes quickly darted around the room for a better weapon. Her gaze fell upon the only viable object in the immediate area: a decorative crystal bowl, resting upon a corner table located just a meter from her position. ‘ _Fuck it, no other choice!_ ’ she thought as she rapidly put her fiber-powered limbs to the test, flying out sideways as she reached out in one smooth motion and batted the heavy bowl in his general direction.

The soldier’s brain had reflexively sent out the nerve impulses necessary to start emptying the pistol’s entire magazine into this godless demon-spawn girl…but the crystal bowl’s velocity ended up being even faster than that. The ballistic bowl streaked across the room with tremendous force, impacting his left shoulder with the power of a cannonball. It disintegrated into a starburst of glittering crystal shrapnel as the man’s left clavicle and scapula disintegrated into an agonyburst of bleeding bone shrapnel. The kinetic impact sent the man back and over, a ragdoll composed of immense, unrelenting agony as he flip-flopped end over end, collapsed and then was still.

Satsuki bolted into the room as Ryuko stood there, panting and sweating as her heart jackhammered away inside her heaving chest. Satsuki swiftly joined her sibling, pain in her bare feet flaring as she carelessly tred upon the sharp, jagged bits of metal and crystal that now decorated the tile floor. This pain couldn’t hold a candle to the searing panic that welled in her heart, ever fearful of discovering a Matoi Ryuko that was full of bullet holes or worse.

“ _Ryuko-chan_! Oh, praise the gods…you’re okay! I was so very afraid that…that…” Satsuki murmured awkwardly as she latched upon Ryuko’s shoulder, unintentionally crushing said shoulder in an act of anaconda concern. Ryuko gasped and raised her arms up reflexively, adrenaline still causing her muscles to twitch and jerk as she nervously chuckled and patted Satsuki’s tousled head. “Aw, of _course_ I’m okay! Assholes didn’t stand a chance against my combat prowess!”

Satsuki allowed herself one more precious second of much-needed contact with Ryuko, and then drew back, snapping to attention as she issued forth her tactical assessment and subsequent plans. “We need to withdraw and find a safe area so we can assess the situation and form a proper response to this attack! We simply aren’t safe here, and I need to find out where the hell Kinagase Tsumugu is currently located, as he was scheduled to be on perimeter duty until midnight! Damn it all to _hell_!”

She quickly tossed aside the rolling pin, drawing out her smartphone as she called up Inumuta’s customized security perimeter app to try to divine the mansion’s current level of intrusion. Her thumbs darted expertly across the screen, swiping past line after line of sensor and camera listings, before finally coming to rest upon the main Central Security Office’s camera. A black video feed told her all she needed to know about this evening’s sinister occurrences…this was a meticulously planned attack for certain. But _why_? Who were these perpetrators? These were urgent questions that required immediate answers, but the current location was too hot to guarantee a safe investigation of these mysteries.

Ryuko growled, fists trembling in anger at her sides. “I ain’t gonna retreat! Imma fuck these assholes up for invading our home! Lemme go outside and I’ll do a full-speed sweep of the area, nee-san…I’ll thrash anyone who’s stupid enough to still be here!”

Satsuki placed a firm hand on each fist, squeezing gently in an attempt to calm the impetuous youth down. “Ryuko-san. We cannot risk it! These men are well-armed, so we need to fall back and-“

Ryuko scoffed at this. “NO WAY! You don’t realize that we have a secret weapon that tips the scales in _our_ favor, Satsuki! They’re not gonna kill _me_.” Satsuki’s eyebrows shot up at the notion. “What makes you so sure of this, Ryuko? _What_ do you know?”

Grinning sardonically, Ryuko’s eyes flashed with aggressive intent as she snapped off her own tactical observation. “Look, it’s obvious why these fuckers are here. They want to capture me for my fibers! It’s some rival corporation to REVOCS, come to kidnap the top-secret walking life fiber factory for their own experiments. Hell, _you_ even once said yourself that this could happen someday, Sats! So, no _way_ are they gonna kill me! I can use this to our advantage!”

Satsuki looked down briefly, considering the validity of these words. Eyes glistening, she looked back up and fixated upon her anxious sibling’s face. “In another time, another place…I would have taken you up on your plan. But…you mean too much to me now, I simply cannot condone this course of action. I’m sorry, but I still wish to fall back. Please, Ryuko-san, I beg of you…do as I say!”

Ryuko’s face blanched as courageous plans were substituted for what she considered to be somewhat cowardly ones. Still, she had to admit she wasn’t the tactical genius in the room, and the tender gaze emanating from Satsuki’s worried countenance made her think twice. She stiffened, then sighed as she prepared to surrender situational control to her warrior soulmate.

A sheepish grin spread across her face, and an exaggerated eye roll preceded Ryuko’s abject shrug as she reached out to stroke Satsuki’s tense shoulders. “All right, all _right_. We’ll do it your way, I guess. Even though I’m pretty damned sure they wouldn’t dare risk killing little old _me_ …”

The gunshot shattered all hope of a strategic withdrawal. Satsuki felt the shock of the bullet’s impact through Ryuko’s hands as the young Matoi’s head involuntarily jerked back, body stiffening in perfunctory response to the unexpected trauma. An excruciating burning sensation filled her chest with incredible pressure as her teeth clacked together to form a pained grimace. Ryuko cough-choked once, and a rivulet of bright red blood spurted out of each corner of her tightly pulled-back lips.

Geared pupils dilated, she stared dumbly at Satsuki, trying to figure out exactly why she couldn’t bear the idea of forming words at that moment…or why her ears were suddenly ringing yet _again_? The worst heartache she ever experienced was crushing her chest right now, and she idly wondered if Satsuki was finally breaking up with her and leaving for good just now…what else could cause _this_ kind of terrible heartache, right?

Ryuko looked down at the floor between her legs. She saw her own blood spattered upon the floor, and that was when she realized something was wrong. It was red. The floor tile was white. There was cleaning do, and it was all her fault, once again. She thought to herself ‘ _Oh… that’s bad. That doesn’t belong there…I got blood on the floor again. Aw heck Sats, I am so sorry, I’ll clean it up once I…’,_ and then she fell limply to her knees, the sudden gravity of weakness pulling her rubbery legs out from under her body.

A single brass shell fell to the ground, tinkling musically as it ricocheted off the tile floor, gradually rolling to rest near Satsuki’s feet. Ryuko managed to raise her head up to look at Satsuki, who was still frozen under waves of terror-filled shock. She opened her mouth to try to form some choice words of apology for the mess, but a gout of arterial blood coursed out instead, a hot coppery waterfall coursing out over her chin and soaking her formal white shirt with blotchy crimson Rorschach patterns.

At this, Ryuko’s glazed eyes slowly rolled back and she fell sideways to the ground, unconscious. A gurgling, crackling noise issued forth from her still-bleeding mouth, one hand twitching in the warm pool of spreading red liquid as she lay there, dying.

Combat boots clunked loudly in the entryway’s main door, and Satsuki jerked her horrified stare up to identify the source of the noise. A man entered the room just then, dressed in the same combat gear as the others. However, instead of a helmet and face mask, he merely wore a red beret, his bearded, scarred face a mask of smoldering anger visible below it. The Heckler & Koch USP pistol in his hand was still smoking from the gunshot, a wisp of gray thread wafting lazily from the barrel. He reached into one of the lamps on the table, methodically screwing in the light bulbs to better illuminate his prey.

Satsuki, trembling from a combination of terror and boiling rage, whispered at the grim assassin through bared fangs. “What…have…you…done _,_ you savage _animal_? How could you just…shoot her? Is that not why you came here, to retrieve her for your corporate employers? **_Answer me_**!”

The soldier regarded Satsuki with a harsh glare. Slowly peering down at Ryuko’s body, he uttered a dismissive snort. In stilted, chopped Japanese, he managed to bark out a phrase, in order to make her understand the true gravity of the situation. “I do not know who _this_ person is, _Kiryuin bitch_.” He then punctuated this statement by spitting derisively at Ryuko’s still form, the glob of spit landing on one pale cheek with a wet slap.

Kiryuin Satsuki’s anger went critical in a split-nanosecond, and a chilling scream erupted from the white-hot supernova that now exploded in her head. “ _HONORLESS **BASTARD**_!” She savagely lashed out with her left fist, hoping to push the bastard’s nose deep into his brain with one surprise lethal strike. Unfortunately for her, this man had decades of combat experience to inform his actions, and her actions were of no real surprise to him. He struck out defensively with a matte-black combat blade, cobra-quick, and it caught her fist in between her index and middle knuckles, splitting flesh with sickening ease.

The tremendous force of her punch carried the blade through to stop mid-hand, the jagged serrations biting deep between her metacarpal bones. He let go of the knife, allowing it to stay wedged deep within the dark red canal that had just been opened up in her now horrifically wounded hand. He had nothing further to fear from this fragile little slip of a girl, now that she had been wounded in such a grievous manner. He could now take his sweet time with what he needed to accomplish next.

To her credit, even this horribly painful wound was not quite enough to get Satsuki to scream: she had suffered worse at Kiryuin Ragyo’s hands during her month in the torture cage at Honnōji. Yet scream she did, a loud braying rasp that brought to mind the spine-chilling scrape of rusted metal against stone. She found herself staggering, then falling to her knees afterwards as a wave of sudden vertigo washed over her shock-overridden frame. This savage scream wasn’t due to the blazing agony of a hideously mangled hand…it was indicative of an irretrievably destroyed heart.

“M-my most beautiful…dear sweet love… _no_! P-please…be okay? Ryuko-chan, I l-love you…come on, get _up_ , you have to _get up_!” Satsuki reach out with her good hand, desperately attempting to secure a grip on the blood-slicked wrist to check for any sign of a pulse.

Finding none, she then choked up painfully, unable to craft any possible words to convey how her life just lost the last vestiges of meaning it could have possibly held for her. Her body racked with violent yet silent sobs, she slowly raised her quivering head to look once more at the intruder. He regarded Satsuki with a bemused glance, pistol tapping methodically against his thigh as he took in this delicious picture of exquisite suffering.

He brought out a bulky tablet, of the rugged type that wouldn’t look out of place in a desolate warzone. Keeping one eye trained on Satsuki lest she try another trick, he casually scrolled through page after page with his trigger finger, hand still firmly clenched around the handgun. To the casual observer, it would look like he was waving the gun over the tablet, it being in competition for the worst choice of touchscreen stylus ever. Finally, he cleared his throat and addressed her in the same butchered Japanese he used earlier.

“Loved one?” he said tonelessly, pistol motioning towards Ryuko’s crumpled form. Eyes of burning hate stared at him with glassy shock. Unblinking, she nodded slowly, trying hard not to burst into torrents of tears like her body so desperately wanted to just then. He nodded back, briefly regarding the still half-open blue eyes of Matoi Ryuko before casting his glare back to Satsuki.

He darted his eyes over some lines of text on the tablet’s screen, sighing in frustration before continuing. “Your language…is hard. But I need you to know why. So…this.” He waved the tablet around, as if to punctuate the thought, then sneered as he fixed his steely grimace directly at her dire expression.

“ _You_ , Kiryuin bitch. I come for you. Plan for a long time. Vengeance needed by _me_ to have this done. Loved one…death is hard. Drive a person to do…this…” and he waved the tablet around again, this time in a grand gesture to indicate all that had happened that evening. As if to accentuate this statement, a long pained groan emanated from the hallway. If the man was concerned about this, however, he did not show it: only a hard grimace of livid intensity met her own confused gaze.

“I…I…do not understand. I know… _none_ of these people... _or_ you?” Trembling, Satsuki felt a wave of nausea spike in her midsection. Something was, in fact, eerily familiar about this…but the nagging feeling did not crystallize into any useful information for her shattered thoughts to ponder. Satsuki was distracted by the terrible notion that she couldn’t possibly imagine continuing on, now that the love of her life had been murdered so cruelly before her very eyes.

Reading the confusion upon her face, the man’s nostrils vented down sudden jets of irritated breath. Consulting the tablet once again, he swiped over a few more pages until he came to a photo. Slowly, he turned the screen around to reveal this image to his wounded adversary. A distinguished Brazilian businessman, his close-cropped black hair peppered with streaks of gray, stared out from the screen as her vision woozily focused upon it. It was obvious to her that the man in the photo was most likely related to the soldier who was now invading her home: she could see the similar facial characteristics. But…

It hit her with sudden cold finality. The last time she saw that distinguished face. The target, far away and up, framed by a private office window. Herself, located in the rear-facing balcony of a charming villa, neighbor to her target’s own estate. The emotionless monster, drawing back the bowstring to her cheek, the sensation of coldest _empty_ in the pit of her stomach as the man’s life left his body in the very next space of time. That beautiful, horrendous Zen moment.

Satsuki vomited suddenly, her last meal now decorating the floor between her knees as she choked painfully on ropes of acidic semi-liquid food and terrible overwhelming guilt. The man grunted, pleased that he was finally getting somewhere for all his efforts. He waited until she paused in her humiliated spitting and spluttering, then reached over and grabbed a fistful of her glossy hair. Pulling back savagely, he drew the cold pistol up to her sweat-slicked cheek as he emphatically growled “Ele era _meu pai.”_

She didn’t need a refresher lesson in Portuguese to know what that phrase meant. She had murdered his father. Her hands fell to her sides limply, offering no resistance to his brutal actions. It finally made sense…she remembered now, the ‘O Festival Grande Cultura e Desporto’ that Kiryuin Ragyo had arranged in Brazil, and her own triumphant first place victory in the grand archery tournament that accompanied it. Then...the required assassination of the South American clothing magnate later that evening, the cold chill of that night’s evil deed haunting her soul for months and even years later.

Tears trickled down Satsuki’s tortured face as weak sobs rippled through her pained torso. She understood now, how karma could and should work, for all those evil deeds that stained her ruthless warlord soul. _“Karma has its own way of meting out justice to the evil in this world, I am just the…witness…to its righteous manifestation...”_ Kiryuin Satsuki thought to herself as she felt the gun barrel press deep into her cheek’s soft flesh. The harsh _*click*_ of a cocked-back hammer told her all she needed to know about how this was soon going to play out.

“O-olho por olho, dente por dente. Minha...v-vida...é... _perdida_!” Satsuki spoke out quietly as she wept, her shaky command of a mostly forgotten crash course in conversational Portuguese somewhat evening out to deliver this solemn statement with laser-like focus. The man paused, unsure what to make of this unexpected utterance. Her Portuguese was as awful as his Japanese…yet it carried an earnestness that could not be mistaken. His mercy quotient quaked ever so slightly, and he decided to offer her a small token of leniency…or at least, what he felt could be offered at that moment, given the harsh circumstances.

The gun suddenly disappeared upwards, and she knelt there quietly as she tried to decipher the odd movements now transpiring somewhere above her head. His fist did not take leave of the tightly snarled knot in her hair however; it was still holding her head back in a painfully firm death grip. The gun reappeared just as swiftly as it had left, now hovering directly in front of her face.

A tiny silver crucifix swung to and fro from a thin chain, intertwined between his fingers as he gripped the gun’s handle with renewed fervor. He started to mumble a quick chant, too fast for her to understand…but she slowly realized what it must have been. He was offering her soul a quick prayer…last rites before the deceased’s spirit took its destined final flight.

Satsuki gazed down upon Ryuko’s still form, salty tears flowing freely as she offered a litany of apologies to the poor girl. “My dearest Ryuko-chan…I am so very sorry, I have failed you. Please don’t be angry with me, I…just…I simply _cannot_ bear to go on if your light has left my life…I love you so much, you are my entire world! But if you are truly gone, then I simply have no reason to fight…I hope to m-meet you again someday, my sweet love…in another life, perhaps?” Her quivering fingers reached out slowly to make one last precious bit of contact with the flesh of her dearest love, her soul’s angelic savior cast in human form. She touched the tip of her finger to Ryuko’s own fingertips, reveling in the last sensation she would ever hope to experience.

The man finished his last-minute prayer, now setting himself to the grim task of completing this ‘eye for an eye’ vengeance that he set out to accomplish a long time ago. He slowly pressed the gun to Satsuki’s right temple, now perfectly still in sharp contrast to the disjointed quivering that consumed it just a few moments before. His curious eyes fell upon the kneeling young woman’s outstretched grasp, now pitifully wrapped around the dead girl’s bloody fingers. His eyes slitted down to coal black pinpricks. Somewhere in the depths of his blackened soul he chuckled, soaking in his hated quarry’s last desperate bid for love before her very own demise.

 _‘There is no pain on Earth comparable to the pain of loss. Now you know this to be true, Kiryuin whore.’_ he thought to himself as he started to squeeze the trigger. She reflexively pinched her eyelids shut, wringing out a few crystalline orbs of wetness from her eyes as she did. Time slowed down to a crawl as she waited for the bullet to end her life’s now-hollow and utterly pointless existence.

 

-

 

A faint but distinct noise caught the man’s ear. Troubled, he paused briefly to ascertain the exact nature of this alien disturbance. A guttural growl, wet and vaguely metallic, assaulted his hearing in ever-increasing waves of volume. He peered at the condemned soul kneeling next to his boots. The soon-to-be-executed female moved not a single muscle, as she was caught up in the cold moment of death’s final embrace.

The sinister growl grew louder, and now Satsuki had noticed it as well. A shiver of revulsion and primal fear ripped down her spine: something was making a ghastly, unearthly racket, and it was unlike any sound she had ever heard before. She pried her sopping eyelids apart, and she beheld the room’s blood-spattered tile once again. The notion that it wasn’t her blood struck her as odd…was _this_ what the experience of death was like? So…mundane and ordinary?

The man whispered a vulgar epithet as he swept the handgun around the room, slightly panicked as his trained eyes found…nothing. _Something_ was making that blood-curdling racket, but _what_ , dammit?

“Eh? Cão de guarda…?” the man muttered, glancing around the area nervously for the guard dog he presumed to be making the guttural and obviously aggressive noise. He panned down casually as an afterthought to briefly examine the dead girl’s corpse, and the nightmarish vision that rose up to greet him would be forever etched into the recesses of his mind.

Matoi Ryuko, her blood-caked face now separating from the gore puddle below it, was ever-so-slowly rising up. Her body, however, was not so much _getting_ up as somehow… floating up? The man blinked, the impossible sight turning his heart into a blast furnace of pure terror. Her blackened, sightless eyes were half lidded, as if she was merely too exhausted from a long night of video games to even make the effort to keep them open. Tendrils of shiny maroon rivulets still connected her body to the tile floor, a veritable lake of half-congealed blood making a low sucking noise as her torso inexorably, ponderously raised up from the dead in slow motion.

Satsuki gasped, unable to believe for herself the alien, physics-defying levitation that was now playing out before her in gory, wet detail. Her sanity quivered tremulously as her subconscious continued to hypothesize that a surreal post-death hallucination was now in progress. Unable to force herself to properly breathe, she nevertheless managed to whisper out a nearly inaudible “… _I_ - _imouto-chan?_ ”

Ryuko’s black-red eyes, now glowing, bulged out at this and her body stiffened, buffeted by the forces that now propelled her movements. The glistening strings of mucous-like blood that hung from below her body _weren’t actually composed of blood_ , it was now plain to see. It was strand upon strand of undulating life fibers, causing her body to rise up in a limp posture of exaggerated, tired stiffness.

The man choked wetly, his eyes wide as he witnessed the eldritch horror now before him. Trembling, he murmured a fevered religious chant as he prepared to empty his gun into the godless heathen creature from _hell_ that rose from the dead to dare haunt him in his time of righteous vengeance. It turned out that the last rites he prematurely administered to Satsuki may as well have been for his own poor soul instead, as nothing on Earth could have possibly saved him from what now followed.

Ryuko’s head jerkily snapped towards the man’s hostile maneuvering. Gleaming blackish-red pupils narrowed hatefully as scores of dark crimson fiber tendrils burst forth from her chest, her skin, her throat. Forming a multitude of sentient micro-spears, they collectively whistled through the air as atomic-razor-thin monofilaments cut effortlessly through the doomed man’s tactical body armor, cloth, skin, flesh, bones, and finally his internal organs. His torso shuddered and quaked as he was run through by the life fibers, a collective autonomic reaction to this dire threat of their hybrid host’s life.

The man hung there, a ghastly meat and bone marionette who was now twitching and gasping out his last gurgling breaths. Blood seeped through his military clothing as his life left him in a hurried rush, his frame unable to withstand the infliction of such grievous and massive trauma. Satsuki uttered a choking, horrified cry, and a few stray tendrils darted out to skewer her body as well.

Upon making contact with her heaving flesh, however, they immediately ceased their savage attack. Instead, they softened to form delicate threads of pulsing probes in the blink of an eye. They grazed past her cheekbones, caressing their regal form gently, much as a lover would. Shivering, she released her imprisoned breath to give her fiery lungs some much-needed relief. Her shocked gaze fell upon the young hybrid woman as she struggled to rise to her feet once again.

“R-Ryuko-chan? A-are you…alive? Have you…come back…to me?” Satsuki stuttered out, her stressed mind unable to process this unbelievable turn of events…but still consumed by the desperate need to _know_. She watched, unblinking as Ryuko’s sclera slowly turned back to their normal shade of off-white, their luminescent black-maroon hue fading away as if by magic. The fibers withdrew slowly into Ryuko’s body, the bloody fabric of her clothes rippling as they worked their way back into their rightful home under her lithe frame’s muscular tissue.

Ryuko stood there, gyrating ever-so-slightly for balance as consciousness slowly animated her facial features once again. Unseeing eyes transformed to sighted ones as she blearily focused upon Satsuki’s harrowed visage. She blinked, then grinned vacantly as she happily recognized the love of her life once again.

Satsuki gasped sharply, hope blooming into an explosion of terrific heat in her raw throat. She drew her hands up, then winced in terrible pain as her throbbing left hand reminded her of its savage injury. Ryuko opened her mouth to utter a string of hyper-rushed questions, but as the first of her oxygen prepared to build up in her lungs for this, she proceeded to double over in a fit of pained coughing.

Holding her mangled left hand up over her heart, Satsuki winced as she tried to assist Ryuko as best she could. She was reduced to merely being a worried observer as she tried to bend over to comfort the hacking, shaking girl and was met with the thinly veiled threat of graying out from her own grievous injury. A spots and sparks fireworks show flashed brightly along the outer edges of her vision as she clutched her wounded hand, feeling her heartbeat pulse in agonizing rhythm against the blade that was still wedged deep into bone. It wasn’t gushing blood nearly as much as she had anticipated, but she surmised that this would quickly change if she removed the knife...so she left it alone for the time being. It would be most irresponsible of her if she died of blood loss while attempting to assist her poor sibling, she decided.

Ryuko coughed over and over, the harsh, wet barking sounds causing Satsuki to wince with sympathy each time. The young Matoi coughed out one more tortuous, wretched spasm, and a bullet flew out of her throat, clinking out onto the tile floor at her feet. She stared blankly at the nine-millimeter slug, then gushed out in slurred, uneven words “Oi, ya shee _thaaat_ , Shatshukiii? Tha’s pure bullshit, righ’ there. Th’ goddam’d bullet ain’t even barely fuck’n’ deformed! Jus’ plain _bullshit_ , ya shee...‘cause I’m a _way_ harder target than thaaa-aaaatt...” At this, she keeled over again, passing out before she even hit the floor.

“Ryuko! No! Please, _no_!” Satsuki blurted out tremulously as she rushed over to the unconscious girl. She hit the floor in a panic, knees skidding in the gore-slick mess as she pawed frantically at Ryuko’s arms. “Ryuko! Wake up! Please! I can’t lift you up by myself! Damn it! I won’t lose you, Ryuko! _Not now_! _Not EVER_!” She crawled around on the floor, searching for her lost smartphone in amongst the debris on the tiles.

Finally locating her phone near the wall, she struggled to pick it up off the floor with one hand, as it was now aggravatingly slippery from a spray of fresh blood. She was still trying to unlock the phone with her thumb when she heard a faint cry from somewhere within the mansion’s vast halls. “Lady Satsuki?! Lady Ryuko?! Sound off! Where are you? Are you on the premises? Answer me!”

Kinagase Tsumugu’s urgent calls were answered with a glass-shattering shout of incredible volume. “In _here_ , you **_simpering JACKASS_**! The garage **_entryway!_** Get over here, there are **_wounded_**!” The hallway echoed his boots thudding beats, which came to a squealing halt just outside the door of the room. He was out of breath, and a sizeable bruise was in the process of swelling his left eye shut as another dark lump swelled up his split lower lip. He swept his needle gun around the room as he struggled to weather the molten-metal rage of an outraged, panicked Kiryuin Satsuki.

“Where the HELL HAVE YOU **BEEN** this entire time, you _incompetent baboon_?! Ryuko is _dying, God damn you_! We need to get her to medical attention _now_! Help me, you damned fool!” Satsuki’s temples pulsed twin veins of dark red anger as she motioned anxiously towards her unconscious sibling’s prostrate form with her one good hand.

“Where was _I_? Fighting off an attack from some foreigner _hit squad_ , that’s where! I had to take out five armed men I caught infiltrating the East Gate, they were bent on- _Lady Satsuki,_ _what the living hell happened here_? Is that man… _is that man **dead**_? Where did all this blood come from? What has happened to _Ryuko_? What happened to…your _hand_?” He was taken aback by all the jumbled carnage that now greeted his eyes.

The lamplight painted a grim picture. Ryuko’s pale complexion hinted at the severe blood loss she must have suffered from whatever hand-to-hand combat she had just endured. It was plain to see where the blood ended up, as just about every object his eyes identified was saturated with it. He rushed over to examine Ryuko, searching for the wounds in order to determine the best treatment. His needle gun hit the floor with a clatter as he frantically searched the girl’s body…and he slowly drew back as he observed evidence that he wasn’t going to like the outcome of this triage one bit.

Kinagase locked eyes with the fuming Kiryuin, sudden grimness overtaking his protective instincts for the moment. “What _exactly_ is going on here, Lady Satsuki? I see evidence of many, many tiny bloody perforations all throughout her clothing, but no corresponding evidence of wounds on her skin… _what_ caused this kind of damage? I NEED to KNOW!”

Satsuki’s temper flared, and with it the terrible legacy of Kiryuin family subjugation reared its ugly head. “You fucking PIG! That…it’s not _important_ right now! What IS important is that she was shot in the back, and is currently _dying_! You need to help me get her to a hospital, dammit! So help me, Kinagase…if she dies due to your lack of assistance, I’ll dedicate my entire life to making your misery multiply a thousand-fol-“

The clack of a needle gun pointed right at her face gave her the briefest of pauses. His voice was made of cold, raw iron as he laid out his line of deadly serious questioning, once again. “Answer me _this_ , Kiryuin. Did Matoi Ryuko externally manifest life fibers during offensive combat? _Tell me the truth_, or will I leave you to your own devices, here and now… _regardless of the personal cost_.”

Satsuki hesitated for a split second, then quickly capitulated to his demands. Time was of the essence, and there wasn’t much she wouldn’t do right now to save Ryuko’s precious life. “ _Y-yes_ , damn you. They acted in defense of their host. She was shot, she was dying, they defended her…much like Senketsu would have done in the same exact situation! Like he once did when _you_ menaced her within the halls of Honnōji Academy, remember? Now please, I  beg of you… _help her_!”

His jaw was set granite-firm, and even the white-hot atomic bluster of Kiryuin Satsuki herself couldn’t faze him at this point. “I see…and you want _me_ to labor to save her life then, knowing full well what she carries within her own self? She could one day infect the _planet_.”

Kiryuin Satsuki rapidly spat out her answer, words scalding him as effectively as molten, splattered steel would. “Kinagase, if that were actually true, I would end her myself. But that _cannot_ happen, these are _not_ the same type of fibers you have spent your life eradicating, they are a hybrid fusion of life fibers and human DNA, as much a part of her as she is of them. They _cannot_ live apart from the host, they are borne of her and _her alone_ …but if she _dies_ here, this will all be moot. Please, I beg of you… _do not let another person lose their sister to these circumstances_.”

He flinched, and the sad echo of a realization quickly rippled across his beaten features. His shoulders slumped just a bit, and he then proceeded to slowly reach down to tenderly cradle Ryuko in his bulging arms. “We will need to take your sedan, its right outside here next to the garage, I noted. I’ll place her in the back. I will also need to fasten a tourniquet around _your_ arm; we need to staunch the flow of bleeding from that wound. Do  not remove that knife, as it will cause massive blood loss if you do. Understood?”

Satsuki nodded, silently praising the man for his fortuitous change of heart as she switched to the best business mode she could muster. “Here are the keys. We will need to get her to a trauma center. The Mankanshoku clinic won’t be equipped to handle this kind of injury. I will contact Mikisugi and have him meet us en route. I’ll also arrange to have Gamagōri Ira see to the…securing and clean-up of this area. Leave the details of the hospital to me…just focus on getting us there in one piece.”

“Agreed.” This terse word was all he offered in response as he proceeded to let his actions speak volumes for him. He delicately hoisted Ryuko up into his arms, then kicked the door open with a resounding thud as he guided them outside. Satsuki remotely unlocked the vehicle as Kinagase quickly strode over to it, gently placing Ryuko’s unconscious body in the back. He then pointed one stern finger to the passenger seat, motioning for Satsuki to get in.

“Make your call to Gamagōri now, I will contact Mikisugi myself. Time is short, and I do not want _any_ of these dangerous men escaping just punishment for their crimes. I am going to fetch suitable materials for the journey from the downstairs linen closet, please see to it that you are buckled in safely before I return. I will be back in approximately sixty seconds.” With this, he sprinted back into the house as he dialed a number on his phone, boots thunking away as he set out to accomplish his mission’s urgent goals.

Satsuki contacted Gamagōri, taking full advantage of his enthusiastic, unquestioning subservience to summon him for a most unpleasant task. Anyone else would have required several minutes of detailed briefing to absorb the full scope of the evening’s horrific sequence of events, but he caught himself up to speed in record time. She cautioned him urgently in regards to the dangerous men’s identities, to which he scoffed.

“Lady Satsuki, I will stop at _nothing_ to secure your home from evil! They will be methodically captured and bound with inescapable restraints by me, Gamagōri Ira, your most faithful shield!” He grunted to himself as he prepared the necessary materials for the grim mission now before him.

“Gamagōri-sama, I cannot possibly convey how much this means to me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I have to go now, but please keep me appraised as to your progress here.”

“No worries, my Lady! Please keep _me_ updated regarding the health status of both yourself and Lady Ryuko as well. I trust there were simply minor injuries?” Satsuki muted the phone quickly, the harsh sob nearly being detected over the phone. She marshaled her indomitable will, focused herself, and then unmuted the line.

“N-nothing to worry yourself about, Ira. Just do what you can here. Thank you, my friend.” He grunted, then ended the call. She let out another sob, and a terrible pressure swelled in her chest as she stole a glance back at Ryuko’s lolling, blood-soaked head. She simply couldn’t get into that with him now. Even she had her limits, and detailing the true extent of their injuries would not have fared well for anyone involved.

Kinagase Tsumugu returned at that moment, his arms full of various cloths, blankets and pillows. He immediately went to work preparing Ryuko for the journey, tossing Satsuki a makeshift tourniquet as he did. “Apply this to yourself as best you can. I will secure it properly once I am done back here.”

Satsuki mumbled quietly as she complied with his request. “Kinagase. That was more than sixty seconds, I believe.” He laughed, a short exclamation that was utterly devoid of humor. “Correct. On the way back here, I took a few precious moments to shoot the intruders in the house with paralytic needles. One of them was trying to crawl away, pistol still in hand. Gamagōri should have about forty minutes or so to arrive and complete his end of the deal.” She nodded thoughtfully to herself: that was a very good idea that had completely slipped her troubled mind.

He finished setting up his emergency preparations, Ryuko’s limp form laid across the seats, legs elevated with pillows, her torso swathed with blankets. From outside the car, she could have passed for a young girl who might have perhaps fallen asleep on the way home from a family outing, or possibly a particularly rowdy laundry run. Inside, however, was a different matter.

“She’s gone into hypovolemic shock. Pulse is…strangely erratic, respiration is extraordinarily rapid. Lips are cyanotic, excessive perspiration…she must have lost at least two liters of blood by now. For her size and weight, this is very bad, indeed…we need to hurry.”

He then yanked open the passenger door and quickly assessed Satsuki’s arm. He was pleasantly surprised to see that she did an admirable job of tending to her own medical needs, given the dire circumstances. Tugging at the seat belt around her form and finding it to be acceptably tight, he closed the door then leapt right over the vehicle in an impressively acrobatic arc. Tsumugu was strapped in with the engine revving before Satsuki could even blink.

He reported his current thoughts to the young Kiryuin, trying to keep her mind focused through the effects of traumatic shock. “I’m glad that I was able to change this car’s tires and break them in last month. You never know when you might need to push a car to its very limits, and we are about to do so now. Lady Satsuki, I’ll need you to select the trauma center’s address from the GPS menu list. If you could...?” He snapped his fingers and gestured to the dashboard, and Satsuki squinted, then extended a quivering finger out to make the destination choice.

The gruff young soldier grunted, recognizing the area on the map from his initial Honnōji City reconnaissance jaunts. He mentally prepared himself for the fast-approaching high-speed highway slalom that was about to become necessary as he sped down the gravel driveway. The Mercedes’ V12 engine surged with immense power, and he allowed himself a faint grin: they weren’t relying on some cheap jalopy...he could rest assured that this beast would get them there in record time.

“Lady Kiryuin. Keep your hand above the level of your heart. I estimate our arrival to be…about seventeen minutes. Things might get hairy, so please hold on. And before you question my driving skills, _yes_ I know what I am doing…so sit back and let me do my job. I’m no _amateur_ at this.” The car jolted and bounced as he finally hit the highway ramp and punched the throttle. The massive engine responded instantly as twin turbos spooled up to provide the enormous thrust required for his daring automotive maneuvers.

“I know…” Satsuki mumbled, almost dreamily. She was in no condition to provide criticism. Her furious anger now dissipated, she was instead left with a crushing sense of doom. Her good hand groped in the back seat for Ryuko’s hand, but was only able to find purchase on her knee, which she proceeded to squeeze lovingly. Ryuko mumbled something incoherently, her pallid head lolling back and forth as rivulets of sweat poured down her ashen facial features.

Tears welling up once again in the darkened hollows under her troubled cerulean eyes, Satsuki whispered “Y-you’re going to be okay, Ryuko. I promise.” Overwhelming exhaustion and severe stress did a number on the young Kiryuin warrior, her leaden eyelids drooping in spite of herself. She rolled her head towards Kinagase and laboriously uttered “Thank you for this, Kinagase-sama. I know of your…personal feelings, and I just-“

He broke off her statement abruptly, his concentration being mostly taken up by his death-defying highway escapades, now in precarious progress. “Let us get something straight between us, Kiryuin. We are _not_ friends. I have a job to perform under you, true…but also a _duty_ as well, and I took this job to easier facilitate it. I won’t let her die, but I also won’t risk the potential for her to be overwhelmed by berserker life-fiber consumption again, either. I _do_ still have that adhesive bullet, you know.”

She closed her eyes, concentrating all her energy into sounding like the stern warrior she needed to be, rather than the useless, simpering fool she felt like at that moment. “I am aware of this. I arranged for you to have this job in part to keep an eye on _you_ , as well. Better than wondering if you were to one day put a bullet in either of us from afar…someday, you will see that Matoi Ryuko poses no threat to this planet, and in fact may hold the key to its future defense. If you are truly the sworn enemy of the alien threat posed by life fibers, _you will do all within your power to save her life_.”

His eyebrows twitched in a moment of uncharacteristic curiosity. There was a story here, and he aimed to get to the heart of the matter, sooner rather than later. Kinagase Tsumugu knew two things about Lady Kiryuin. One: she was very, very good at bluffing. Two: he would learn nothing from her at all if Ryuko died that night and there actually was truth in Satsuki’s words about her being the catalyst for effective planetary life fiber defense.

His cellphone rang, and he touched the receiver in his ear to answer the call. From the conversation, Satsuki quickly deduced that Mikisugi had succeeded in making the necessary arrangements at the hospital and would be waiting on standby when they arrived. The list of individuals she needed to thank was growing at an exponential rate…provided that Ryuko survived this fateful night.

“We _will_ get through this, Ryuko. We always do, d-don’t we?” Satsuki mumbled as the Mercedes shot down the highway like a black, gleaming bullet. Silence was the only response, as Ryuko had slipped deep down into unconsciousness at that point. Satsuki swallowed thickly, squeezing her sibling’s knee as she closed her eyes and reluctantly let the fickle nature of fate guide the course of the rest of their lives.

 

 

-

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to ‘Para Bellum.’
> 
> I probably should have told people to 'fasten their seat belts' or something. "...pain in your back side in the near future", indeed, right? Oh well. This ride is almost over, anyways...
> 
> Content notes:
> 
> Parabellum: Like the previous story’s title, this is also a reference to the type of bullet that strikes poor Ryuko down: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9%C3%9719mm_Parabellum
> 
> ‘Magical yobikō’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yobik%C5%8D
> 
> Random Kill La Kill online browsing trivia facts (*shrug* just because that’s how I roll): 
> 
> Ryuko uses Firefox, while Satsuki uses Pale Moon. Nonon? Vivaldi (an offshoot of Opera), of course! Uzu relies on SeaMonkey, naturally…but perhaps he should consider Midori someday? Mako still likes Internet Explorer (sigh…bless her heart), while classic car lover Ira employs Chrome. Hōka rather fittingly employs a highly modified version of Iceweasel, it being expertly sandboxed within a well-protected virtual machine for his leisurely online prowling. Iori sticks to Safari, being an avowed Apple aficionado.  
> Kinagase Tsumugu doesn’t have time for internet browsing, as it would distract him from his constant training. Mikisugi Aikurō unabashedly uses Torch browser for his perverted internet lurking….that whore.  
> Rei just uses the built-in Android browser on her ever-present smartphone: she’s a very busy woman. It is unknown what Ragyo would have used (or if she even personally used computers for leisure at all…what would her search history look like? *shudder*), but speculation regarding her likely preference for Konqueror has been noted. Nui would have used Microsoft Edge, because bitch be crazy. 
> 
> ‘The Day Satsuki’s Mind Went All Krakatoa and Disappeared’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa
> 
> Kendo stance employed by Satsuki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Ddan-no-kamae
> 
> Translated from Portuguese (please forgive the Google-translated phrases):  
> “Relatório de status! Tem o alvo foi localizada?” - ‘Status report! Has the target been located?’  
> “Ah merda!” - ‘Oh shit!’  
> “Ele era meu pai.” - ‘He was my father.’  
> “O-olho por olho, dente por dente. Minha…v-vida...é...perdida!” - ‘E-eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. My…l-life…is…forfeit!’  
> “Eh? Cão de guarda…?” - ‘Eh? Guard dog…?’
> 
> Skull patch of “Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais”, literally "Special Police Operations Battalion", a special police unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (the man had connections like you wouldn’t believe, plus several lifetimes worth of wealth): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalh%C3%A3o_de_Opera%C3%A7%C3%B5es_Policiais_Especiais#/media/File:BOPE_Faca_na_Caveira.svg
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha
> 
> This video will give you a rough idea as to just how far Kinagase Tsumugu pushed the Kiryuin family Mercedes S600 that night (don’t try this at home, kids! Or anywhere else, for that matter…). The man is a nutjob, but he is a trained professional nutjob!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A2zsUWZDeA


End file.
